Andrew Peterson

Well I had a blog and realized after I posted it that I accidentally posted it on Johns blog.  So go and read it there!  :-)

http://sufficientgrace76.blogspot.com/

A hiking we WENT!

We finally made it hiking this year. I wanted it to be a little earlier in the year so that we could catch the trees in peak color change, but it was still PRETTY. I obviously said this word a gazillion times on the ride there and during the hike because my sweet husband made fun of me.

"Preeeeeety" "WOW, PREEEETY!" "ORANGE, PRETTY!" "Look John! PRETTY"!"

And yes, Diesel did great in his shoes. At first he was walking crazy, but we think that he was so excited by the new surroundings that he forgot about them. He had so much fun sniffing and eating everything! We enjoyed the two hour car ride home with a sleeping dog.

Voting Day Drama

I am proud to say that I voted! I even got a cute little sticker that says so. But oh what a morning. Here is some advice to all those who have never voted before ...... CHECK YOUR PRECINCT!!!!!

John was so excited that his boss let him come in late today so that he could vote. Late being 6:30am. So we got to our designated building and waited in a line of about 50 people. Of course, the church was not open yet, so as we stood in line for 20 min, the line grew longer and longer and longer. But no worries, we were "in the front." As we walked down a very narrow hallway, we noticed people passing us and getting into other lines... their precinct lines. So we asked a man that was helping which precinct were in, and he said, "Where do you live? Oh? You should be in the correct line." We were in the Town branch line.... 6:05a.

So I thought and pondered what it said on the little sheet of paper in my car. White berry? That sounds familiar. Town branch? That sounds familiar too? Stallion? Sure?

Of course they all sound familiar- THEY ARE ALL STREETS IN OUR SUBDIVISION!

So we decided to ask the guy again to look it up.

"Oh, are you an even number?"

"Yes?"

"Oh, You are White berry." 6:19am- inside the Town branch room to vote, four people a head of us.

End of White berry line- 6:20 am- out in narrow hallway- 50 people a head of us.

I almost cried. In fact, I teared up. John had to leave. I was so sad and upset because in my car, with a piece of old gum stuck on it, was a scrap paper with our building and PRECINCT name.

One hour later, I voted and walked out proud and defeated at the same time. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband that sent me a text message saying I was wonderful and that he prayed for me.

I plan on going to stand in line with him. Because that is what best friends do.

So check your precinct, you'll never know where you might end up.

Pumpkins and Costumes

Clearly I am behind but I wanted to update everyone one the Halloween happenings at the Drexler abode.

Last weekend we had the Northrip family come over and carve pumpkins. This has been a tradition going on three years now. They did a great job with their pumpkins and I was sad to see them leave our door step.

Let's see what else has been strange and funny at our home? Well, John was invited by a co worker to go to a costume party. We thought it would be fun to go hang and we were encouraged strongly to dress up.

Earlier that week, I dressed up as a doctor for the girls at the dance studio.

I was not about to be a doctor at a Doctor filled party.....unless, I was going as John. That would only mean that John would have to go as me. Then, we could go as "The Drexler's My husband is so confident.... and very funny. By the way.. he did not fight the idea, He thought it was funny.

A hiking we won't go.

We were planning this past weekend to go on an amazing hike and taking beautiful pictures of all the fall colors. We even bought Diesel some fun shoes because we had heard horror stories of other dogs having sticks go through the paw and how their pads were shredded if they were not used to being outdoors for long periods of time. Even after being made fun of by our friends and families, we still bought the shoes. ;-)

However, the Friday night before the hike, we had the youth church lock-in. I don't know what I was thinking! The last time I stayed up all night long was a church lock-in when I was a youth! Well, I had stayed up to study for a college final but I had also consumed at least 6 cups of caffeine. Anyway, I figured that John would drive to the two hours to the park and I would sleep on the way.

OOPS! John was on call that night and HE went in at 12:45am and came home at 5:30am.
Unfortuantley, we both slept until 2pm. Fortunatly, so did our sweet dog...kind of.

Anyway- here is Diesel in his new shoes...... feel free to laugh.

Pot Sticker Fun

John introduced me to a small edible delight know as the POT STICKER.

When I tried to make them, they turned out VERY soggy but still had great flavor. When John made them they were perfect. We ate about 5-6 each and then we froze the rest for later. Here

is the recipe and some pictures for you to enjoy.

INGREDIENTS
100 (3.5 inch square) round wraps
1 3/4 pounds ground pork - I used a pound of Lean pork- Fatty Pork is better for taste though.
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root - I bought ground ginger in a bottle
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 egg, beaten
5 cups finely shredded Chinese cabbage - I used 1/2 of a green cabbage.
1 tablespoon Veg/Canola Oil

1/4 cup water - I used Chicken broth because I had it in the fridge.

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the pork, ginger, garlic, green onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, egg and cabbage. Stir until well mixed.
Place 1 heaping teaspoon of pork filling onto each wonton skin. Moisten edges with water and fold edges over to form a triangle shape. Roll edges slightly to seal in filling. Set dumplings aside on a lightly floured surface until ready to cook.

In preheated vegetable oil, cook pot sticker approximately 1 minute per side, until lightly browned. Place water into skillet and reduce heat. Cover and allow pot sticker to steam until the water is gone.

For dipping sauce, we bought a POT STICKER dipping sauce. however, there are several recipes on line.

John did about 8 at a time- turned out great. If you want to freeze them, place them on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper in the freezer overnight. Put them in a Ziploc bad and store.

Fun Fall Weekends

Before we move from Lexington Ky, which I am not sure when that is happening, I have been determined to enjoy the fall weather and the "entertaining" KY venues.

Last weekend, John and I went to the Maker's Mark distillery and to Boyd Orchards. It was a gorgeous day other than it being hot for a fall day in KY.

At the Maker's Mark Distillery, we had the chance to take a free tour of how they make and bottle the bourbon.

This is the process of Fermentation. John thought it would be fun to share this process...I hope you enjoy it.
Wasn't that fun?

John is standing in the room with all the bourbon doing its thing for three years.

After the tour we went to the gift shop to buy our own bottle and had the chance to dip it into the wax ourselves.

John is dipping his bottle in the wax now, my bottle is the one drying there on the table...I did the technique called the "Slam Dunk." (yes, there is technique.)

Now, besides the fact that I do not like bourbon, I was so excited to buy a bottle and dip it into the hot wax. Whoo HOO! It kind of reminded me of being at the Renaissance festival and dipping my hand in the wax.

Afterwards, we drove towards home and stopped at Boyd Orchards. It was about 81 degrees when we got there and it happened to be their Fall Festival. It was crowded and hot and I felt like a little kid who wanted to go home. We picked some apples for baking and eating and found our perfect pumpkin.

Go ahead John, take the Apple!
I think his back braking position is for dramatics.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. This weekend, we are headed to Cumberland Falls for some hiking with our puppy!

By the way- I made a fantastic pumpkin cheesecake with sour cream bourbon topping! I got it off of the Maker's Mark website. It was very yummy. I have no pictures only because I was so excited to eat it.

Diesel Update

This is for all of you who care about our sweet child...yes, our dog.


He loves comfort.







He loves to eat. Just kidding! He actually does not eat very much, but we went crazy with buying dog food so he thought he would enjoy some too. ;-)




HE loves to play with his friends!






Isn't this place gorgeous? This is the view from one of John's Attendings home! Must be nice.





And..he loves to make hideous faces when he is super excited.

I made it!

YEA! I Did IT! We woke up early this morning, ate breakfast, and headed out the door. After setting up my station, We walked to the pool and got ready for the swim.

The swim portion last year was my hardest, this year, it was my easiest. Last year, I biked every other day, this year, I did that with the swim. I am not sure of my individual times, but my overall time was 2 h and 11min. Last year, 2h and 10 min. At least I am consistent. I guess you can add a min for the added year older. :-)

It was a bit colder this year so when I got on the bike and rode a little, I began to notice that my toes were freezing! It is hard to bike with no feeling in your toes. It is also hard to run right after that! I had to walk a little more during the run than I wanted, but I did get a boost of energy around the 3rd mile. My friend Kathryn (who made me do this all over again this year...and I am thankful) cut 15 mins off her bike time! WOW- she placed 3rd in her division. Go Kathryn!

ME after the swim- all smiles.

Me after the bike...where is that smile now?

Miss Kathryn and I after the race.

Diesel Dog...who is still sleeping after 2 hours of being home. Apparently he was very popular at the race.

And of course, Susan B Cox of the Susan B Cox Triathlon. Who by the way told me she would see me at swim practice tomorrow. :-)

WISH ME LUCK!

Tomorrow, I will wake up around 5 am and head out to complete my second triathlon. I feel like I will finish, but not sure how I will compare with last year. My dad has driven up from Alabama and John will of course be there to cheer me on. And we could not forget the amazing super dog Diesel! It will be fairly chilly for the bike ride and nice for the run. I am a little anxious but also very excited! Let you know how it goes sometime after the race.

This is me setting up my area last year. Hopefully I will get the end spot again!

This is the pool that we swim in- most Tri's are open water like in a lake... thank goodness for walls to push off of!

Yes, I know I look cool!

And the final leg.. running. Last year a did an 8:43 mile... we shall see how it goes this year.

How to eat healthy...

My sweet husband found this great website that figures out all of the things I hate to figure out. "How many calories is this?" "What is Trans fat? " "How much protein do I need?" Spark People even tracks how many calories you burn when you do certain exercises. It is really cool.

In efforts to stay within our range of calories, John and I decided that we would stay in and cook our Tilapia fillets. A while back, John and I went to a French cooking class with my dad and we made Blackened Tilapia. It was fantastic. French, I am not sure, but very tasty.

When I went to visit my dad last August, I made it there with him and it was perfect. I was so excited to make it for John. It requires three ingredients: fish, Old Bay Seasoning, and PAM. The other best part... it takes 3 min on each side.

So to answer the title question of how to eat healthy....

BUY THE WRONG SEASONING! As you can see, the containers look very similar if one was in a hurry and did not know that there were TWO, and YES three kinds of seasoning. :-)

I prepared the recipe as planned, however, the original OLD BAY seasoning is to be used more like salt, not like a coating or a COMPLETE COVERAGE as you would the blackened seasoning.

I watched John put the first bite in his mouth and as every anxious newly married person would be, I asked how it was.

"Good, a little over seasoned, but the fish is cooked well," He said. I put the bite in my mouth and quickly spit it out.

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. It felt like I was eating the ocean salt. My amazing husband sweetly scraped off the seasoning and continued to eat. I tried and it was still infused in every bite, well at least the one other bite I ate...and spit out.

So there you go, how to eat healthy, ruin it and eat less.

He's Alive!!!

Well, of course he is. He did great in his surgery and he did great at the follow-up appointment. In fact, he did so great that I thought I would get sick and have him take care of me! I felt so bad but I have had this bad cough for a long time. I haven't had a good nights sleep in three nights. Today, while I planned on taking care of dad, he let me sleep for two hours. Oh well- good thing he was feeling "fine" or I would have really been in trouble.

I guess your parents will always take care of you.

Visiting my Dad

Tomorrow, my dad is having surgery on his nose. He has really bad allergies and they are basically going to clean him out. So here I am in Alabama. I thought it would be fun to take care of my dad for once. I get take him to the hospital and make sure he gets his pain pills, feed him chicken noodle soup and fluff his pillows. Just call me "Nurse Diana."


Tonight, he did everything for me. He cooked dinner, washed the dishes and even made my tea...mmm, I guess he was trying to show me exactly what I would be doing for the next two nights. :-) I might try to find him a little bell to ring.

Swim Coach

I am doing my second triathlon on Oct 5th. Tri For Sight is a sprint distance triathlon which includes an 800 meter swim, an 18 mile bike ride, and a 4 mile run.

I did this last year and I loved it. I was so surprised that I accomplished it. Previously I had never participated in anything that I had to actually "work" for. Anything I ever did with dance always came naturally but running, swimming, AND Biking.....definitely not in my area of expertise.

About 3 weeks ago my friend Kathryn called me up to see if we were going to do it "together" again. I say "together" but really she was so kind to go before me and make sure that the track was safe. Anyway, if it wasn't for her, I would have not done it this year. When I went to get my bike down off the rack, I had to take the race number off from last year... that is the last time I had ridden the bike!

So far the running is slowly coming back, the biking is not as easy as last year and the swimming has had to start all over. BUT- this year I signed up for something called Masters Swim. It is a swim group that meets with a coach and you do certain workouts and receive critiques from the Master Swimmer. The Master Swimming coach of my group happens to be Susan Bradley-Cox. If you click on the Tri link you will see that the event is named after her!

On Friday I went into my second practice and she was there. She looked at me and said, "Okay Diana, let me see you swim." She then proceeded to tell me with each lap every thing I was doing wrong. I swam for an hour non stop repeating drills over and over again. It was awesome and exhausting. I was so excited that I got a private lesson with her but it was completely unexpected.

This lady is amazing. I remember swimming at a local pool this summer and there was a woman wearing a 2 piece SPEEDO. She swam an hour and half longer than me with out stopping. She being Susan B Cox is 71 years old. This is a lady that I did not want to disappoint while she was coaching me.

She will be there tomorrow to see if I have improved on my stroke. I am nervous.

Our dog has been made neutral.

Diesel had the surgery last Wednesday. He did great. They said he was very well behaved. John and I were looking forward to a few calm days around the house. The vet said he would be kinda sluggish and tired so we should take it easy on him and keep him from heavy exercise......THANKS A LOT! Here is what our sweet out patient did with no exercise.

He was definitely aware that he had done something wrong because when we entered the room, he kept his head low and his eyes looking up at us. IT was really cute disappointing.

So he got a new bed and a long walk the next day. :-)

He also got a new toy.

Notice how he has gone from sweet boy puppy to neutral demon dog!